THE GHOSTRIDERS

The local Fernie Hockey team are consistently awesome. The name Ghostriders comes from a Fernie legend dating back to over a hundred years ago. The story goes like this: the founder of our beautiful town, William Fernie, pursued a local Native Indian girl, even proposing to her, having seen she was wearing a necklace made of coal beads. Once he discovered the source of the coal, he promptly left the girl, incensing her father. A shadow falls across one of the nearby mountains in the shape of a man on a horse, the Ghostrider. People say this is the spirit of the Father, chasing down William Fernie for shaming his daughter. A lot of people believed a curse was on Fernie, which attributed to the string of bad luck such as fires, which burnt down Fernie two years in a row in the early 1900s. A few decades later, a nearby Indian tribe was invited and performed a curse-lifting ceremony to rid Fernie of bad spirits. Maybe they were a little too good at removing bad spirits, maybe they went a little over-the-top, encouraging people to stay in Fernie forever... Fernie Phenomenon anyone?

Anyway, we’ve seen the Ghostriders play a few times and they’ve won all but one game, which they lost in a deeply disturbing turn of un-awesomeness. The opposing goalie was freaking amazing and could stop pucks with nay more than a steely gaze.

Most of the time, the team are unbelievable. They are ranging in 16-20 years of age and they fight with the unbridled anger of young testosterone. When they get on the ice, it’s go-time. The first game we went to was against Kimberley, a nearby town with whom they obviously have an ongoing grudge. The ferocity and the inevitable fisticuffs which ensue are different to when they play other teams. It’s pretty sweet. A number of times during the game, the crowd would chant “Kimberley’s a girl’s name”, which Robyn would find hilarious, as her Dad’s name is Kimberley. Classic. I never thought I’d be the sort to encourage violence but for some reason I just get all riled up and when the gloves come off, I’m standing with the rest of the crowd screaming “fight fight FIGHT!”.

The funniest thing about the team is the surnames. Surely it isn’t a joke, but the various names of the teammates are quite peculiar. Golightly, Milhouse, Cool, even the goalie has the last name of Pickles! My favourite player, however, is Baba. He’s the newly appointed assistant captain, and I was concerned that this move would tame him somewhat. You see, Baba is the Willie Mason of hockey. I think he is brought out, no, unleashed, only to bring bloodshed and punches onto the ice. The first time we saw him come on, he skated on and within two minutes had a biff and then skated straight off, leaving a trail of blood drops on the ice. I was concerned because lately, it had seemed the Baba had lost his punching power, possible due to his appointment to the position of assistant captain, bringing status, respect and responsibility. But, thankfully, during the midweek game against Kimberly, the old Baba returned with flying fists. He came on and I swear within twenty seconds he’d picked out a player of the opposing team, doing the whole pointing “you, me.... it’s on” thing. And then less than a minute later, the gloves were shunned, the sticks thrown aside, the helmets sliding across the ice and the biff was on {his second for the night}.

The funny thing is, the refs are SO vigilant when it comes to fighting. The second even a few harsh words are exchanged, the refs are there breaking it up even before the players are skating towards each other. But when it’s Baba, they know to just let him go. And they do, and he gets a few good punches in and then he just skates straight off, amidst cheers from the crowd.

Going to the hockey is great. When we first went, we were like “Awesome! It’s $9 for a ticket! It’s a cheap night out!” But then when we get there we always get a few beers.... And then a few more beers.... And then if we’re peckish we’ll get some chips.... And then a few more beers.... And then when the hockey is over we’ll be walking home.... And then on our way home we’ll see the pub.... And then we’ll go to the pub.... And then we’ll wake up the next morning with hangovers and empty wallets.

About a week ago we had our first in-town snowfall. It really snowed. Big beautiful fat flakes falling heavy and fast to the ground where they promptly melted. But still, Zane and I were walking to the library and it was like we were in a snowglobe, it was so beautiful. But the snow got in our eyes and it kinda hurt but it was still cool. And then yesterday, the day Robyn and Adam were set to leave for Australia, we all woke up to find a dusting of snow on the grass and rooftops. It was great for them to see the first snowfall because we haven’t seen much but I’m sure by the time they come back in late November, the whole town will be covered in snow, at least it better be! The weather channels predict snowfall for the next week, so I really hope it proves correct. Hopefully we’ll be making snowmen in no time!

As Robyn and Adam have headed back to Australia for Robyn’s sister’s wedding, Zane and I have the whole house to ourselves! We’ve decided to celebrate our 5-year anniversary a month early, so today we’ve rented out some movies, had a few beers, and cooked some pork ribs on our balcony BBQ. And they were DELICIOUS! Amazing and tender, marinated in hickory sauce. Might go downstairs soon and enjoy the luxuries of the hot tub. Unemployment is bliss!

Much love to all, Z and T.

PS: Jo and Darcy, have a beautiful wedding and don’t tempt Robyn and Adam into staying in Australia! We need their rent payments! And their drinking inclinations!


Master Barbequer


Mmmmm Ribs